


Routines

by ellaaa25



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Baby Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time), F/F, Family, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time), Love, Marriage, Pushy Mary Margaret, clueless town
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 23:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12971187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellaaa25/pseuds/ellaaa25
Summary: Emma Swan had no idea that her carefully crafted routine would be broken by a naked toddler running at her legs.





	Routines

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time

Emma liked routine. It kept her sane. Her childhood was so unpredictable and varied that she needed it.

When she moved to Storybrooke, she started a new routine. She would wake up at 7 and go for a run through the town and the surrounding woods, stop at Granny’s for a coffee and breakfast on the way home. Once home, she would shower and then sit on her porch overlooking the ocean and work on her book until lunch time. Lunch was a simple sandwich and some water before she pulled out the online college papers she had to mark. Around three o’clock she would make her way back to granny’s and sit in a booth with a hot chocolate, a muffin, her laptop and working on some more papers for the college she had spread around. Dinner was ordered at 6pm and by 7 she was walking home.

She very rarely spoke to anyone other than Ruby or Granny, and for a small town like Storybrooke, she was an oddity that everyone wanted to know more about.

Regina was the mayor who was curious about the new patron in her town. She knew she bought the big house on the cliffs that overlooked the ocean and that she had a very strict routine. Regina knew she had graduated from college with an English degree and taught online classes, but not much of her childhood was available to be found. It was as though her file was sealed.

Emma followed a routine which made it easy for Regina to monitor her. And after a few weeks, Regina mustered up enough courage to speak to the woman. Even if it was just a ‘good morning’ as the blonde left the diner, Regina felt better about herself. She didn’t want anyone in her town to feel unwanted. 

After a few weeks of saying good morning to each other, Regina and Emma ran into each other by accident. Emma was following her normal walking route home after dinner at Granny’s, and Regina was chasing a two-year-old Henry who had done a runner when his mum turned her back to check the water temperature for his bath. Emma was walking in silence when she heard a gleeful squeal and laughter from a child and Regina’s voice yelling at him to stop. The next thing she knew, a naked two-year-old was running full pelt at her legs. Emma scooped him up and held him close, and the boy laughed. Regina came over to them and relieved Emma of Henry, thanking her profusely for stopping her son. Regina insisted on Emma coming over for dinner the following night as a thank you and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

The next night was when the routine change for the first time.

Dinner was nice and comfortable. Two things Emma was not familiar with. She found that her and Regina had many things in common, even if they didn’t delve into their pasts. They could both sense that the other understood. They deemed it a success and agreed to catch up again the following week for dinner. 

From then on, if either saw the other in public, they would go out of their way to say hello. The townspeople had a field day trying to come up with reasons why the new girl in town would be friends with the mayor. Emma was still very guarded when it came to the townspeople and didn’t appreciate them trying to nose into her business. Mary Margaret was one of the worst. She didn’t understand that Emma didn’t want her company, so she insisted on trying to invite her to events and dinners. Emma declined them all and had taken to wearing headphones when around town so as to dissuade conversation. They didn’t play any music, so she could hear what was being spoken about.

Emma and Regina’s relationship grew quite steadily. They both opened up about their pasts. Emma spoke of the abuse she suffered in childhood and her time in the foster system. Regina found herself talking about Daniel and his death. 

Regina admitted to looking into her past to find out what she could and coming up with not very much. Emma was hurt and it took her a few weeks to forgive her, but she could understand it. From Regina’s perspective, Emma was originally a mysterious woman in her town that could be a threat. 

Their weekly dinners quickly turned into twice a week, then some lunches at Regina’s office. After about 6 months, the two very guarded women let all their walls down and started dating. They knew so much about each other they couldn’t be closer.

Not much changed in the routine. Dinner was still at Regina’s, lunch at the office and sometimes a walk around town with Henry. But every time they parted there was no longer just a hug or a wave. If they were in public it was a kiss on the cheek, in private, the goodbye kiss was a bit more substantial.

Henry loved Emma. She played with him and was funny. But he could see she was sad sometimes and just wanted a hug. On those evenings, Henry would use Emma as his seat and snuggle in. Regina could see that Henry loved the woman, and Emma loved her little boy.

It took 6 months of dating before either of them dropped the ‘I love you’ bomb. It was after their dinner and Regina was watching Emma put Henry to bed. Emma just turned and said ‘I love you too’, before finishing putting Henry to bed. Once he was asleep, the two women left his room and moved into Regina’s for the night, each wanting to show the other how much they loved her.

Slowly, the townspeople noticed Emma’s routine beginning to change. Some mornings she didn’t come in for coffee or some evenings she didn’t have dinner at the dinner, leaving straight after she finished her work. Regina didn’t often join her but when she did, it was as though the townspeople saw two different people. Regina smiled and laughed, while Emma was talkative and engaged. Henry often chose to sit with Emma if they came to the diner, and that showed the townspeople how much their mayor trusted this woman. No one in the town even thought that the two women were dating and had been for 6 months.

Two years after Emma moved to Storybrooke, and 18 months since the two women had begun dating, the big house on the cliffs was once again up for sale. The townspeople were curious as they still saw the blonde around town. Mary Margaret was the one who had no respect for boundaries and asked the woman what she was still doing in town. She hadn’t bought another property and wasn’t living in the hotel. Emma calmly explained it was none of her business where she lived before leaving the diner and walking home.

To Regina’s.

Emma and Regina decided that moving in together was what was best for both of them and for Henry. The boy saw it as having two mothers and both women cried the first time he called for his Ma. 

It was an adjustment for them, but it quickly became the norm. The people around town realised that they were living together, so they didn’t feel the need to sensor their actions in public as much. A kiss on the cheek turned into a peck on the lips, and if they weren’t walking with Henry in between them, their hands were clasped tightly.

The townspeople were shocked, but some realised that the way they acted around each was more than just a friendly relationship. Town events such as fairs and carnivals, were attended by the Regina, Emma and Henry. The new little family were so at ease and comfortable with each that the novelty of the relationship went away quite quickly. Town meetings were attended just by Regina while Emma stayed at home with Henry. The inhabitants of the town did notice that the meetings went quicker now that their mayor was in a happy relationship.

About a year after they moved in together, a town meeting was cancelled the day before and the deputy mayor was put in charge for a two week period. The little family disappeared and the town started gossiping about what circumstances led to this. It was the middle of winter and travel was dangerous, so whatever cause them to leave town must be serious.

The family returned a week after they left, but Regina did not return to work until after her two weeks leave were completed. Everyone could see that something had changed in the dynamic, but kept their speculating away from prying eyes.

As it was the middle of winter, no one saw the matching rings that were worn under winter gloves. 

The newly married couple had noticed how oblivious the town was, so were trying to see how long it would take them to realise that they were married. 

Henry didn’t think that anything was different. His mums were still the same people who loved him. 

It took until registering Henry for school that the townspeople found out they were married. They had to put their legal names on the forms. Regina and Emma Mills.

It caused a bit of a stir, but the people in town were a bit embarrassed that they didn’t notice straight away.

Emma liked routines, but changing them gave her the most important thing in her life. Family.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this. Had it written for a while before life got in the way. Comments and Kudos are always greatly appreciated!
> 
> ellaa25xox


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